Experience of S3 priority setting of West Region Romania Chiinău,

“Research is the transformation of money into KNOWLEDGE. Innovation is the transformation of knowledge into MONEY.” Dr. Geoffrey Nicholson, former Vice-President of 3M International

West Region Romania Overview

WEST REGION – OVERVIEW Region West is traditionally a part of Central Europe Distances: Budapest – 330 km Belgrade – 160 km Vienna – 570 km Munich – 1020 km Brussels – 1700 km Rome – 1560 km Stuttgart – 1250 km

WEST REGION – OVERVIEW 4 counties Surface: sqm Population: Population: Graduates: Enrolled students: Regional GDP 59% from EU 28 average GDP: 12, 34 bil. Euro SMEs: Tourist: ILO Unemployment Rate : 4,1%

Major economic sectors: automotive components, ITC & electronics, manufacturing, agro-food, construction, tourism Major economic sectors: automotive components, ITC & electronics, manufacturing, agro-food, construction, tourism First town in Europe that introduced street lighting (Timisoara, 1857) First town in Europe that introduced street lighting (Timisoara, 1857) First railway steam engine built in Reşiţa (1872) First railway steam engine built in Reşiţa (1872) First Romanian PC built at the Politehnica University in Timisoara (1969) First Romanian PC built at the Politehnica University in Timisoara (1969) WEST REGION – OVERVIEW

WEST REGION – COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES Regional Economy growing region; traditional industrial area; business locations; clustering Strategic location border area; TEN T Network; international airports High Quality of Human Resources young; good coverage of all qualification levels; diversity and multiculturality Quality of Life good cost of living; tourism; unique natural elements; rich natural resources Advanced Services Costumers services; Headquarter for multinational company

West Region Romania Experience in Regional Innovation Strategies

First Romanian Region that developed RIS Priorities set up after 2 years of consultation and debate: questionaires to SMSs - 50 interviews to research units - 25 tehnologic audits International Partener: Tehnological Institute Aragon International Consultant: Infyde, Basque Country Pillot projects from RIS : Tehimpuls, Automotivest, international projects: Before, Mitke REGIONAL INNOVATION STRATEGY IN WEST REGION

REGIONAL INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER CENTRE Pilot project of the Regional Innovation Strategy Legally founded in September 2006 Objective Stimulate the regional economy and enhancing the competitiveness capacity of the regional enterprises through promotion of innovation and technological development

REGIONAL INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER CENTRE Achievements: Technology transfers Over 90 RTDI products/services /technologies promoted on Over 60 audits to companies 25 innovation vouchers 2 brokerage events Training sessions delivered Innovation Management, Intellectual Property Management, Management of Investments Regional Innovation Fair 2013, 2014, 2015

– Second RIS for West Region All along the RIS process… 50 companies are partners in the clustering activity 300 interviews with companies – automotive and IT&C sector studies 35 technology audits to companies 20 vouchers granted to companies 244 companies financed from EC (Phare) and 125 companies from ERDF (ROP ) Pillot projects from RIS : Regional ICT Cluster, Automotive Competences Center, international projects: Fresh, Prosesc, Co2Free REGIONAL INNOVATION STRATEGY IN WEST REGION

S3 in West Region Romania

WHERE DOES WEST ROMANIA STAND IN TERMS OF INNOVATION? "One-size-fits-all" is impossible! … BUT every region has some asset that can make it SPECIAL …

Consultation with the Regional stakeholders Actors of knowledge Investors Private Enterprises Internal Analyse of Economic Structure Published on the internet web page Addresses / meetings Public Consultation Regional Economic Specialisation PROCESS First Draft of RIS 3 Study on smart specialisation 15 West Region Innovation Strategy RIS3 Surveys / interviews / meetings with Regional stakeholders RTDI actors Private Enterprises Public entities

RIS 3 GENERAL OBJECTIVE By investing in R&I, West Region will become: more productive - based on labor efficiency and a high level of innovation; dynamic - attract and capitalization skills, ideas and capital;  permanently up to date - following adding value to the product and process.

PRIORITIES A) Sectorial priorities: AUTOMOTIVE, IT&C, TEXTILE, AGRO-FOOD 1)Innovation, R&D & Creativity 1)Skills, business growth and internationalization 1)Economic infrastructure

PRIORITIES B) Horizontal priorities: SUPPLY, DEMAND, INTERMEDIARIES AND FINANCIERS FROM R&I 1)Basic support services (Investment readiness scheme, Proof of concept, Innovation Business Plan competition, Coaching) 1)Support infrastructure (Fab Labs, Open Innovation Platform / “Open Labs”, Makers eco-system) 1)Advanced services (innovation management, Commercialization of research results, Vouchers, Entrepreneurs Club, Business Angels)

Case Study: Specialisation in Automotive Industry West Region Romania

AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY - AT THE GLANCE: companies: 106 with foreign capital employees - turnover: 4,7 billion Euro - labour productivity: euro / employee / year - return of investment: 316,74 million euro - export: 2,28 billion Euro - multinational companies, regional cluster, competence center

AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY

FOCUS Completing the value chain (finding suppliers, clients, raw materials) in order to reduce costs, increase efficiency and reduce delivery time REASON Use of local raw material Local proven competence Links with related industries (e.g. IT&C, manufacturing) Partnership with universities and research centers National policy promoting automotive sector AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY

IMPACT ON THE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT MODEL Diversification OBJECTIVES To strengthen automotive component industry in West Region, from both national and multinational companies, in terms of competences, products and clustering effect To encourage the cooperation between the players in automotive components industry and make it a source of growth & exports AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY

CONCLUSION S3 is a process … and a journey …. FROM:TO: Cohesion Integrated vision Increasing competitivness Development Projects Institutional differences Small visions Never ending neggociations Hanging problems

THANK YOU ! Adrian MARICIUC Head of Department for Regional Planning and Urban Development WEST REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY ROMANIA 5, Proclamatia de la Timisoara st., , Timisoara, Romania Tel ; Fax Adrian MARICIUC Head of Department for Regional Planning and Urban Development WEST REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY ROMANIA 5, Proclamatia de la Timisoara st., , Timisoara, Romania Tel ; Fax